|
Adventist hospital attorney could face ten years in federal prison for privacy violations if “sleeping giant” awakes.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) April 10, 2006 -- Nurse Barbara Clark of Sacramento is seeking the help of Debra Wong Yang, the U.S. Attorney serving Los Angeles,
apparently on advice of confidential sources at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to seek a criminal
indictment against a hospital attorney.
According to Clark, a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit (see Sacramento federal court Case No.: NO. 2:05-CV-2410-FCD-KLM,
Clark v. Rea), government officials requesting anonymity instructed her to pursue criminal enforcement of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles in an effort to deflect
attention from the nearly non-existent enforcement of the HIPAA criminal sanctions.
According to Clark nearly $4 billion dollars a year is spent by the medical community to comply with HIPAA privacy rules,
largely under threat of criminal enforcement for malicious data breaches. But, she points out, to date there have been
only two convictions of individuals violating HIPAA. “The industry is beginning to realize that HIPAA is a toothless
tiger, the threat is gone,” Clark said.
Clark’s lawsuit claims that Hershewe, in an attempt to win a California worker’s compensation case, violated the criminal
provisions of HIPAA (42 USC 1380d-6) when he published Clark’s confidential psychiatric reports to at least twenty people
in a malicious manner. HIPAA criminal enforcement is the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dennis J. Hershewe, the primary defendant, has already been cited for “vile, conniving and despicable” legal tactics by
the quasi-judicial California Workers Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB case no. 0206327; Clabough vs. Fremont Compensation
Insurance Company) said Clark.
Clark has enlisted the help of Eric Drew in December 2005, a victim of identity theft who was able to persuade the U.S.
Attorney for the Western District of Washington (state) to file criminal charges under HIPAA against a Seattle lab
technician; the first such conviction. Since then Eric Drew has become a national spokesperson for HIPAA enforcement,
appearing on MSNBC and The Geraldo Show.
The most recent federal criminal prosecution under HIPAA was against Liz Arlene Ramirez, 36, of Alamo, Texas.
See http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txs/releases/March2006/060307-Ramirez.htm.
Court documents are available at www.barbclark.org. For general information on workers’ compensation issues see
www.mystatefundstory.com and Eric Drew at www.ericdrew.com.
PRWEB) - Sacramento (PRWEB) January 23, 2006 -- Handicapped and disabled injured workers are planning a protest on the
steps of the Sacramento Federal Courthouse on February 1st at noon, to complain about the Governor’s handling of federal
funding used in rehabilitation and workers compensation programs and to seek a Department of Justice probe into alleged
funding abuses.
“There are too many “acting directors” creating a puzzling shell game where no one seems accountable for enforcement of the
rights of the disabled and federal rehabilitation funds,” reports nurse Barbara Clark. She is suing the acting director of
the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), John Rea, in Sacramento federal court (see Clark vs. Rea, Case No.:
NO. 2:05-CV-2410-FCD-KLM) for enforcement of the rights of handicapped injured workers under the Americans with
Disabilities Act.
“The shell games have got to stop,” Clark said, referring to the Governor’s legal affairs secretary, Andrea Hoch, allegedly
running the Division of Worker’s Compensation (DWC) from the Governor’s office.
“The DWC should be operated from within the DWC with strict accountability, not by a political aide on the Governor’s
staff,” cited Clark. Clark’s lawsuit alleges that Andrea Hoch is more or less still running the DWC while acting as the
Governor’s legal affairs secretary even though she left her post of DWC head almost six months ago.
“I never thought I would see the day when the lives of disabled and handicapped people would be in the hands of a legal
secretary reporting to a cash register Governor who seems accountable only to his special interest pals,” Clark said.
Clark is a disabled handicapped injured worker who was injured on the job while on duty at an Adventist hospital chain
medical center. According to Clark, John Rea and Andrea Hoch have the power to enforce several court orders against the
Adventists for payment of her untreated medical injuries.
For more information about Barbara Clark’s lawsuit visit: www.barbclark.org, or www.mystatefundstory.com.
PRWEB) - Sacramento (PRWEB) January 19, 2006 -- The appointment of Winston Wilkinson to head the Office of Civil Rights at
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is troubling to nurse Barbara Clark, a plaintiff in a multi-million
dollar civil rights lawsuit (see Clark vs. Rea, Case No.: NO. 2:05-CV-2410-FCD-KLM in Sacramento federal court).
“He is the new patient privacy czar, whoever holds this position will supervise the investigation, or suppression, of
thousands of complaints of medical record breaches,” Clark said. “Mr. Wilkinson has a decidedly ‘limited government’
stand, not exactly the person you want leading a federal government investigative agency,” she cited.
According to Clark, almost 1,800 complaints, including one filed by her, are in the DHHS OCR pipeline awaiting investigation
and resolution for alleged medical record confidentiality breaches. She says that big money hospital chains want to
suppress these complaints, which she calls ridiculous in this “present era of identity theft”, to quote her.
“Also, Mr. Wilkinson’s very vocal membership in the Mormon church worries me that religious bias might be introduced into
the management of my complaint against the Adventist hospital chain,” Clark reported. “That’s like having an all Catholic
jury hear an abortion manslaughter case,” she said.
Clark reports that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) provides criminal penalties for
medical record breaches as stated in 42 USC 1320d. She recently appeared on a San Francisco television show with Eric Drew,
the only American to get a successful HIPAA prosecution and conviction.
For more information about Clark see: www.barbclark.org, or www.mystatefundstory.com.
Information on Eric Drew is available at: www.ericdrew.com, or www.knightsbridgecastle.com.
Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) January 16, 2006 -- Nearly one year ago, Barbara Clark, a former Adventist nurse, filed a
complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) concerning the breach of confidentiality of her
medical records under HIPAA; the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
The events that have unfolded over the past twelve months have surprised even her.
“If you would have told me a year ago that the home address of a parole officer would be given to a sexual predator under
his watch by a hospital admissions clerk, I would have laughed at you. But not anymore,” Clark said.
This is just one of the many startling revelations of the breaches in patient medical record security that the nurse has
uncovered since the initial filing of her compliant with DHHS against her former employer, the Adventist hospital chain of
Roseville, Ca., nearly a year ago.
In addition to her HIPAA complaint with DHHS, Clark has presented allegations in a federal lawsuit filed in Sacramento
(USDC for EDC CASE #: 2:05-cv-02410-FCD-KJM) that alleges criminal conduct in violation of HIPAA by Adventist claims
adjustor Carol Pope and attorney Dennis Hershewe, named as co-defendants.
Clark also named John Rea, acting director of the California Department of Industrial Relations, as a co-defendant for
failure to conduct a hearing into the matter regarding the alleged conspiratorial criminality of Pope and Hershewe to
violate HIPAA. Rea’s department licenses the Adventist hospital chain to self administer workers compensation claims.
Clark claims she was awarded workers compensation medical care in 2001 by a California state court and has had to fight
the Adventists ever since to get needed medical care for a work related injury. It is Clark’s contention that Pope and
Hershewe smeared her by breaching the confidentiality of her medical records to humiliate her into accepting no medical
care.
PROGRAM NOTE: Barb Clark appears in a one hour TV show “Injured on the Job” that will be aired on San Francisco COMCAST
Cable Channel 29 6:30 – 7:30 pm Monday night (1/16/2006) and Sacramento COMCAST Channel 18 5:00 – 6:00 pm Wednesday night
(1/17/2006).
For more information on Barbara Clark’s lawsuit visit www.barbclark.org and
mystatefundstory.
Victim of only successful HIPAA prosecution, Eric Drew, and plaintiff in HIPAA lawsuit, Barb Clark, have candid
discussion on TV.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 10, 2006 -- A reluctant duo has joined forces to seek changes in the enforcement of the
national medical records privacy law, known as HIPAA (see Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996).
The two are an unlikely pair, a former mortgage broker – Eric Drew -- and a nurse practitioner – Barbara Clark.
Drew, a cancer survivor and identity theft victim was successful in seeking the prosecution of the one and only wrongful
disclosure case of health record information in the United States (USDC for WDW CASE #: 2:04-cr-00374-RSM-1) against
Richard W. Gibson, sentenced to 16 months in a federal prison. Gibson was convicted under 42 U.S.C. § 1320d-6.
Clark, a former nurse for the Adventist hospital chain, is seeking intervention of federal authorities in a federal
lawsuit filed in Sacramento (USDC for EDC CASE #: 2:05-cv-02410-FCD-KJM) against a claims adjustor and attorney working
for the Adventists for the alleged wrongful disclosure of protected health information.
The nexus between Drew and Clark is a June 1st, 2005 memorandum issued by Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant
Attorney General, addressing 42 U.S.C. § 1320d-6 (see http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/hipaa_final.htm). The memorandum re-focused
enforcement efforts for wrongful disclosures away from “small fry” individuals towards “big fish” corporations.
“We shall see just how serious the Department of Justice is in pursuing the fat cat corporations violating HIPAA,” cited
Clark, referring to her federal lawsuit involving the Adventist hospital chain of Roseville, California.
“HIPAA enforcement is more or less a national joke. It is reprehensible that there has been only one criminal prosecution
of a HIPAA violator,” Clark said, referring to the Eric Drew case. “Put up or shut-up” were her words to the Department of
Justice.
To see the discussion tune to San Francisco Comcast Cable Channel 29, 1st & 3rd Monday evenings for the "Injured On The Job" television program.
For more information about the TV broadcast www.injuredonthejob.tv/findus.html.
For more information about Eric Drew see www.knightsbridgecastle.com.
For more information about the Barbara Clark case see www.barbclark.org and www.mystatefraudstory.com.
For more information about Injured On The Job sponsor see www.ciaw.org.
Sacramento (PRWEB) December 19, 2005 -- Barbara Clark, the former San Joaquin Community Hospital nurse suing John Rea, Acting Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations (USDC for EDC CASE: 2:05 - CV – 02410), has called upon Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully to stop avoiding the responsibility of conducting a fraud investigation of the Adventist hospital chain, located in Roseville, CA. Clark said, “Defendant John Rea’s people have directed me to the Sacramento County D.A.’s office concerning the criminal conspiracy allegations in my lawsuit, then when I contacted the D.A.’s office they just blew me off.” “Under Senate Bill 1218 workers’ compensation fraud is a felony. District attorneys receive millions from California’s Department of Insurance anti-fraud fund to prosecute this crime. Unfortunately, it is usually small fry work comp cheats that get busted while the ‘big fish’ get away,” cited Clark. According to Clark, a letter from DIR lawyers, received last week, claimed that although the DIR has licensed the Adventist hospital chain to self-administer workers’ compensation claims, DIR lacks any criminal enforcement power over the hospital chain and that the nurse should direct her allegations to the county D.A. (the nurse has had a workers’ compensation claim with the Adventist hospital chain for over ten years). Clark alleged in the federal lawsuit that a defense attorney and a claims adjustor, representing the Adventists, were involved in a criminal conspiracy to – among other things – violate provisions of the anti-Ku Klux Klan (KKK) Act (42 USC 1985) and the medical records confidentiality portions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Apparently the federal lawsuit is progressing, on December 14th US District Judge Frank C. Damrell ordered a federal magistrate to prepare a “Findings and Determinations” document, in response to Clark’s recent motion for a temporary restraining order against the claims adjustor employed by the Adventist hospital chain. For more information about Clark’s federal lawsuit visit the web site http:www.barbclark.org. Other background about the case is available at www.mystatefundstory.com and www.ciaw.org.
In a letter to John K. Vincent, the assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, Clark complains that attorney Dennis Hershewe has sent her the medical records of other patients at the Adventist Health System, who Hershewe represents. Nurse Clark’s letter to AUSA Vincent claims that Hershewe may have violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 by sending her the medical records. “I have turned these medical records over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services,” Clark said. Recently, Clark filed pleadings to obtain a temporary restraining order against Carol Pope, a claim adjustor, for the Adventist hospital chain, to approve of spinal surgery that Clark is awaiting. Clark gained notoriety last week when interviewed on a taped television show last week by an activist for disabled and handicapped injured workers. The show, “Injured on the Job”, will be broadcast in Sacramento on Comcast Channel 8 on Tuesday, Dec. 13th. (see www.ciaw.org and www.injuredonthejob.tv for more information). Court pleadings in Clark vs. Rea case and the letter to AUSA Vincent can be viewed at: www.mystatefundstory.com.
SAN FRANCISCO, DECEMBER 5, 2005 -- Sam Gold, host of the public access television show "Injured On The Job," which focuses on the California Workers Compensation system will feature and exclusive telephone interview with disabled injured nurse Barbara Clark, who gained notoriety last week when she filed a $40 million lawsuit against John Rea, head of California's Department of Industrial Relations. "Her story is compelling and needs to be told," commented Gold who directs the non-profit injured workers advocacy group, Californians Injured At Work, Inc. (www.ciaw.org) Clark, a registered nurse practictioner, filed a federal lawsuit in Sacramento last week alleging that disabled workers are being used in a complex political game to make Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's so-called Workers Compensation reform policies look attractive, regardless of whatever pain and suffering it may cause the disabled. Barb's story speaks to the endless stream of court ordered judgements that she has obtained that are simply ignored by one of the largest hospital chains in the country that apparently wants to see her just roll over and die from her injuries," Gold said. "She told me about the private detectives that constantly follow her, and apparently tried to run her off the road. She tells me about the sabotage done to her car and the late night hang-up calls. This lady is living a nightmare," Gold reported. "As reported on earlier programs, physicians are dropping out of the California Workers Comp system at an alarming rate because of these kinds of activities," Gold reported. "This is worrisome because it means that disabled workers are living in pain and physicians don't want to treat them under such circumstances," he continued. "Where will these injured workers go for treatment? Probably to already overburdened emergency rooms, driving up costs and inefficiences; it's a recipe for a health care system meltdown," Gold cited. Californians injured At Work www.ciaw.org sponsors the television show "Injured On The Job" which is seen on cable public access television stations all over the State of California as well as being streamed on the internet. For a listing of locations, channels and schedules where this informative and riveting show can be seen, visit the website at www.injuredonthejob.tv for more information. For more information you can also go to www.mystatefundstory.com. Click here to watch the interview in it's entirety. If you don't have a broadband (cable or DSL modem) connection.... Click here to listen the interview in it's entirety.
SACRAMENTO (PRWEB) November 30, 2005 -- The decade long legal battle between the Adventist Health System and Barbara Clark, Registered Nurse and Nurse Practitioner, took a new turn Tuesday when a federal lawsuit seeking $40 million in damages was filed in Sacramento against a claims administrator and an attorney representing the Adventist Health System. In an unconventional twist, John Rea, Acting Director of California’s Department of Industrial Relations was also named as a defendant (U.S.D.C. for the Eastern District of California, 05-2410-FCD Filed November 30th, 2005). The novel use of the Ku Klux Klan Act, 42 U.S.C. 1983 and 1985, against the defendants seems justified by Clark. She commented, “The tactics used by the Adventists to silence disabled injured workers holding valid court judgments are similar to those used by the Klan.” She continued, “intimidation, harassment, coercion of witnesses, obstruction of justice, it is a rich tapestry of conspiratorial criminality.” John Rea, named as a defendant, is accused of overseeing the dismal performance of the Adventist Health System and their lack of making progress payments on court ordered judgments. Clark is also a plaintiff in a racketeering influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO, Superior Court of Kern County Case No. S-1500-CV-0000245966) lawsuit in a California state court in Bakersfield. The Adventist Health System is a defendant in the RICO lawsuit, but was not named in the Ku Klux Klan Act lawsuit. Click here to read the complaint!
|